Creating a Safety Culture at the Children's and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia

The Children's' and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia (C&W) is the largest hospital providing specialized care to women and children across the province of British Columbia in Canada. The values of quality and safety are threaded throughout the C&W strategic plan which emphasizes that safety is vital for better health. At C&W, a multifaceted approach is used to create and sustain a culture of safety. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has developed tools to facilitate the development of safety cultures within hospital settings. This article describes the implementation of some of these tools, such as the Safety Briefings Model and Patient Safety Leadership Walkrounds. We will discuss how we adapted these strategies to our pediatric settings; what we learned through the implementation process—our successes and challenges; and implications for future success.